Chapter 6 #2
“Owen!” she said. “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
“Just dropping off something for Florence,” he replied.
Florence could almost feel the satisfied look on her sister’s face, and when Evie walked through the door, she proved Florence right. Her eyes found Florence right away, and she wiggled her brows before she set a small basket at the front checkout counter, empty save one green candle.
“Mommy!” Clara ran for Evie. “You’ll never guess what happened!”
Ink gave up on the lemon and trotted across the shop toward Evie in greeting. He rammed his head against her legs, then looked back at Florence. She followed after him.
“You got a kitten?” Evie bent down to pick up Ink.
She pressed him right up against her face.
He squirmed in her arms and gave a small hiss.
Affronted, she put him down, narrowed her eyes, and said, “I’m surprised you’d risk bringing someone new into your life so close to your birthday.
Finally changing your mind about the curse? ”
Florence’s heart skipped over itself. She’d been so surprised by her niece’s magic—and worried about its broader consequences—that she hadn’t thought about the impact it could have on the cat himself.
The last thing she wanted was for something so small and innocent to fall victim to the Caldwell curse.
“I didn’t think …” Florence trailed off.
“Mom!” Clara said, arms crossed. “That’s not very nice.”
Evie glanced at her daughter and with a short nod said, “You’re right. Sorry, Florence. I think it’s great you got a cat. Unless it’s not yours?” She glanced at Angela.
“He’s mine,” Florence said, and the smile Clara rewarded her with almost made Clara casting a spell in her shop worth it. Ink trotted over to her and meowed to be picked up. Florence obliged. “But I didn’t adopt him. We have Clara to thank for little Ink here.”
“Where did you find a kitten?” Evie asked.
Clara glanced up at Florence. “I broke Aunt Florence’s rule and used a candle in the shop.”
Evie’s mouth fell open slightly. “You summoned a cat? With your magic?”
“Apparently she heard the two of you talking about how lonely I am,” Florence said.
“It’s true,” Evie said.
“I might’ve let more people in over the past thirteen years if you’d listened to me.”
“Instead, you gave up your magic without knowing if it would even make a difference,” Evie shot back.
Neither of them knew for certain if their efforts to break the curse would work until the thirteenth came, but as far as Florence saw things, one less practicing Caldwell witch might just be enough to tip the balance the tarot cards had pointed to, undoing the damage wrought by the magic of the witches who had come before her.
“That’s better than doing nothing!” Florence said.
“Helping this town isn’t nothing,” Evie replied.
“So, you’re going to sit in that house and hope the curse doesn’t come for you?” Florence asked.
They’d had the argument so many times that Florence knew what Evie would say next, so when Evie opened her mouth to respond, Florence cut her short. “You have people in the house. You have Clara!”
Evie took a step forward, pointing directly at Florence. “Don’t bring my daughter into this.”
“How can I not? You’re putting her at risk.”
“Keeping her magic from her is an even greater risk,” Evie said. “Look at the beautiful things she can do. If I’d raised her the way you would’ve had me do it, there’d be no wonder in her world.”
Behind Evie, Clara had taken Angela’s hand as her eyes tracked back and forth between Florence and Evie, her lip trembling.
“I think maybe that’s enough for now,” Angela said.
Evie whirled around. “Oh Clara, honeybee, I’m so sorry.” She looked back over her shoulder at Florence. “I raise my voice a lot less when you’re not around, you know.”
“Funny, so do I,” Florence said.
“Come to the house. We can talk through this there,” Evie said. “Your tarot card—”
“Was a warning,” Florence said.
“Your own shop wants you to come home.”
The lights flickered overhead. Evie arched her eyebrows.
“I’m not going to that house,” Florence said. “Not until after the thirteenth.”
“If my efforts haven’t been enough to break the curse—which is a big if, since the tarot cards made it clear that using our magic is how we fix this—the danger isn’t until the thirteenth,” Evie said. “So come before then.”
“I thought you said the house turned a few of your guests out of their beds this morning,” Angela said.
Evie winced. Florence crossed her arms.
“It’s October,” Evie said. “The house was having fun. The festival is coming up.”
“One of those guests was pregnant,” Angela said.
Evie sighed. “You weren’t supposed to say anything.”
“I couldn’t keep it to myself,” Angela said. “Not with everything else that’s happened today.”
“Fine. It’s a little worrying, but not someone is going to die in our house worrying.” Evie shrugged.
“That is exactly the sort of worrying it is,” Florence said.
“The guest laughed it off,” Evie said. “No one was hurt.”
“They could’ve been. And what about what happened here?” Florence threw out her hand toward the cracked tourmaline.
“Not every bit of bad energy has to be the result of a curse,” Evie said.
“It’s too much of a coincidence not to be.”
“Then do something about it,” Evie said. “The tarot told you to come home.”
Florence shook her head. “I’m not going to the house unless you agree to shut down the bed and breakfast until this is all over.”
“October is our busiest month of the year,” Evie said. “People have already booked their rooms.”
Florence shrugged. “Those are my terms.”
Evie sighed and said, “Come on, Clara.” She took the last green taper from her basket and held it out toward Florence. “I dipped one for you.”
But Florence shook her head. “No candles.”
Evie set it on the countertop by the register anyway, then she took Clara’s hand and headed for the door.
“Bye, Aunt Flo!” Clara called.
Florence blew her a kiss.
“We’re good people,” Evie said before she reached for the door handle. “We don’t deserve to be cursed.”
“It doesn’t matter what we deserve.”
As the words left her mouth, she felt a twisting sensation at the center of her chest. A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she found Evie stabilizing herself against the door frame.
Before either of them could speak, a siren’s wail filled the air, and a firetruck flew past the shop. Evie’s phone started to ring. The color drained from her face as she brought it to her ear.
“Is everyone all right?” She nodded, quickly. “I’m on my way right now.”
But when she hung up, she didn’t move.
Her eyes met Florence’s, round and dark and frightened. She held her hand over her chest and said, “The house is on fire.”